Cara Alexiou
Cara Alexiou (Class of 21) has joined Dentons' Louisville office as an associate in the Commercial Litigation practice. She assists clients in a variety of litigation matters including in the areas of employment, health care, education and data privacy.
While in law school, Cara served as a judicial intern for the Hon. David J. Hale of the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, and as a legal extern in the United States Attorney’s Office in Louisville.
Denton's is the world's largest global law firm with 21,000 professionals in over 200 locations in more than 80 countries,
Judge Claudia Silbar
Judicate West, one of California’s leading providers of private dispute resolution services, has added Judge Claudia J. Silbar, formerly with the Superior Court of Orange County, to its roster of neutrals. Specializing in family law matters, Judge Silbar is based in the Santa Ana office, and she is available as a mediator and private judge.
“Judge Silbar is one of the most respected judges to have served on the Orange County Superior Court, where she spent two decades presiding over family law matters. Her quick wit, work ethic and no-nonsense reputation, as well as keen insight into settlement opportunities, will serve her well as a neutral in the private sector,” said Alan Brutman, President and Co-Founder of Judicate West. “Judge Silbar is a terrific addition to our roster of neutrals. Her love and dedication toward the family law community is second to none, and we are excited to offer her services to our clients statewide.”
Appointed by then-Governor Gray Davis in 2001, Judge Silbar served on the Superior Court bench for 21 years, almost exclusively in family law. Prior to her bench appointment, she spent more than 12 years with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, handling felony jury trials, including sexual assault, gang violence and homicides. From her trial work and experience, Judge Silbar was elevated to senior assistant, overseeing all felony trial units, excluding white collar crime. She began her career with the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office in Jefferson County, Kentucky, followed by positions with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Judge Silbar was named “Judge of the Year” by the Orange County Bar Association’s Family Law Section in 2020 and in 2007. She also received the “Judicial Officer of the Year” award in 2010 from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Judge Silbar served on numerous programs and committees for the Orange County Superior Court, chairing the Temporary Judge Program for 15 years, co-chairing the Custody Guidelines Committee, and sitting on the Mediation and Arbitration Committee. She also co-created and co-chaired the Court’s Remote Voluntary Settlement Program. Judge Silbar earned her J.D. from the University of Louisville School of Law (1984) and her B.A. from the University of Kentucky (1980).
Judge Daniel Boling
Daniel Boling (class of 2017) is the latest member of the Brandeis community to ascent to the position of Judge, having been elected as the District Court Judge of the 38th judicial district of Kentucky. The 38th District covers Hancock, Ohio, Butler and Edmonson Counties. Boling's new office is at the Hancock County Judicial Center as well as at the Ohio County Courthouse.
A Hancock County man, Boling came to U of L for his undergraduate and to Brandeis for his J.D., Boling had been an attorney with Madden & Madden Attorneys at Law in Hawesville, as well as Assistant County Attorney since 2018. Boling replaced Judge John McCarty, who retired from the position after 20 years in the role.
Councilmember Shayla D Lynch
On January 1, 2023, Shayla D Lynch (Class of 2004) took office as the 2nd District City Councilmember, Lexington, KY. This was her first time running for office and she unseated the incumbent. She is now a part of the most diverse City Council to serve in Lexington's history!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2023 Law Alumni Awards. The Brandeis School of Law will honor these individuals at the Alumni Awards Luncheon on April 21st. Learn more and purchase your tickets, table, or sponsorship today!
Lawrence Grauman Award
Michael Lindenberger (posthumous)
Distinguished Alumni Award
Recent Alumnus Award
Aaron Marcus
Gail Robinson Award
Justice Angela McCormick Bisig
Dean’s Service Award
Judge Erica Williams
Outstanding Faculty Member
Prof. Les Abramson
Prof. Grace Giesel
Outstanding Staff Members
Kyle Durbin
Last year, Marshall Matz stepped down as Chairman of the law firm of Olsson Frank Weeda (OFW Law) in Washington, D.C. after a wide-ranging and fulfilling career, one he hardly foresaw. “I always assumed I would be a trial lawyer,” Matz said, “as that was what I wanted to do.” But instead of entering the field of trial practice the 1971 graduate of the University of Louisville Law School instead pursued a rewarding and rich career as a counsel and lobbyist in the Senate, crafting much of the legislation and standards that have been adapted over the years to form the basis of domestic and global food programs.
Matz’s career took him places he never expected. Born in Massachusetts, and raised in Connecticut, he confesses to having been a less than diligent student at UConn before coming to Louisville, where the School of Law gave him the tools he needed to develop and mature. As he says, “It was the perfect law school for me. I loved UofL and I applied myself when I was there.”
After graduation and passing the Connecticut bar, Matz started his legal career on a Native American reservation in South Dakota before being introduced to George McGovern, the challenging Democratic nominee to Richard Nixon in the 1972 Presidential Election. He followed McGovern to D.C. to help develop the Senator’s food security agenda, becoming Counsel to the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Ultimately Matz crafted legislation that Senator McGovern and Republican Senator Bob Dole championed, leading to free school lunches, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Food and Nutrition Service.
Continuing his work with McGovern and Dole beyond their time in the Senate, Matz shared their global vision of a world where even the poorest could be food secure. Based in D.C., he has been a lobbyist and consultant, advocating for national and international food security. His contributions to the field have been recognized in many ways. Among the awards and honors has received include the 2009 Gene White Lifetime Achievement Award for Child Nutrition, a Lifetime Achievement Award by Congressional Hunger Center in 2018, and the World Food Program naming a boardroom for him in 2020.
Matz may no longer be the Chairman of OFW but he is by no means finished advocating for food security – if anything his efforts are more international. Having founded the World Food Program-USA, he is currently the US Ambassador for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). His passion for food security keeps him going, he knows there is still work to be done.
Fifty-two years after graduating from UofL Law, he is still grateful for his experiences, and how well his education here has served him over the years. “It’s been a wonderful career, and UofL was my launching pad.”
Greg Finch
Savannah, Ga. — Bouhan Falligant LLP recently announced Gregory L. Finch has become a partner in the firm. Finch is a member of the firm’s litigation group focusing his practice primarily on transportation and logistics, medical malpractice and professional liability, nursing homes and long-term care, products liability, and general civil practice. He is a member of the firm’s Emergency Response Team, conducting on-scene accident investigations.
Originally from Crestwood, Kentucky, Finch is a member of the State Bars of Georgia, Indiana, and Kentucky and is admitted to practice in the courts of each state. Finch is also admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Kentucky, the Southern District of Indiana, and the Middle and Southern Districts of Georgia. Finch received his Juris Doctor from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law (2014) and his Bachelor of Arts from Transylvania University (2011).
Prior to joining the firm in January 2019, Finch practiced with a national civil defense firm in Kentucky. Since moving to Georgia, Finch has been named by Best Lawyers in America as “One to Watch” for both 2022 and 2023. A proud Eagle Scout and Kentucky Colonel, Finch enjoys engaging in the community and is currently a board member and treasurer of the Savannah Harbor Foundation, a volunteer for the United Way of the Coastal Empire on the Campaign Cabinet and as a Business Champion, a member of the Emerging Leaders Committee, and a mock trial coach for Savannah Country Day. Finch is also an active member of the Savannah Bar Association, serving on the Young Lawyers Division board. Finch is a proud graduate of the Leadership Savannah class of 2022.
Brooks Alexander
The law firm of Triplett & Carothers today announced that Brooks Alexander has joined the firm as of counsel. Alexander brings decades of experience in estate planning as well as business succession planning to firm clients, most recently working for 41 years at Middleton Reutlinger, formerly one of Louisville’s best-known and oldest law firms.Alexander often helps clients with the implementation and coordination of a comprehensive estate plan as well as business ownership succession plans and has been a speaker at estate planning seminars. He has been ranked as AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell and named a top lawyer in Louisville Magazine for trusts, wills and estates law.Managing partner Rosalyn Carothers noted: “We are excited to have Brooks on our team and look forward to the added tax know-how he brings to our clients.”Prior to practicing law, Alexander worked as a Certified Public Accountant and tax specialist for the internationalaccounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand. He is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Louisville, and both the Kentuckyand Louisville Bar Associations. He is a past member of the Boards of the Louisville Bar Foundation, the Home of theInnocents, the Widowed Persons Service, and the Anchorage Public Education Foundation.His military service included four months of officer candidate school and three years of active duty concluding with a yearin a Vietnamese fishing village as an advisor to a South Vietnamese Junk Force Group, a naval security unit of theRepublic of Vietnam.Alexander received his undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky in 1967 – where he played on the freshmanbasketball team — and his law degree from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law in 1972. He is admitted topractice law in Kentucky.A resident of Anchorage, KY, Alexander helps coach the Anchorage School fifth grade basketball team.The law firm of Triplett & Carothers – with offices in Louisville, Kentucky and Floyds Knobs, Indiana – focuses on estateplanning and probate law; it is dedicated to simplifying the complexities of life and death decisions.
In 1968 and 1969, the faculty at the University of Louisville Law School selected four students for inclusion in Who's Who in Colleges and Universities. These students were Rick Cusick, Vince Aprile, Ralston Steenrod, and Bill Lawrence. Both Cusick and Aprile were classmates in the Trinity Class of 1961.
The following year, in 1969, the faculty selected only one student for this honor - senior Steve Schuster, who was also from the Trinity Class of 1961 and shared the same homeroom as Cusick and Aprile.
Out of the five law students chosen by the faculty in 1968 and 1969, three of them were from the Trinity Class of 1961 and shared the same homeroom. All three had successful legal careers in Louisville, with Aprile continuing to practice law today.
Cynthia “Cindy” Effinger has been named co-managing member of the Louisville office of law firm McBrayer PLLC.
Effinger will share duties with Member Ivan Schell and will work closely with him to grow the office and transition leadership over the coming years. Effinger has been with McBrayer since 2011, when the firm's first office on Shelbyville Road was only a few years old.
“Cindy has been a leader within this office even before she had the title,” said Schell. “She has been a trusted adviser and steadfast advocate for all of her clients, and we are confident that our firm’s presence and success both in Louisville and beyond will continue to grow and flourish even more as she steps into this well-deserved leadership role."
As initially reported in Louisville Business First.
]]>The University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law and the Brandeis community are profoundly saddened by the loss of alumnus Michael Lindenberger ’06.
Lindenberger, 51, was an active alumnus and recently won a 2022 Pulitzer for Editorial Writing in May for his work on the series The Big Lie, and two earlier pieces published in the aftermath of the 2021 January Capitol Insurrection. His work tackled the issue of election fraud in Texas, analyzed the myth of voter fraud, and examined the implementation of common-sense voting reform.
Lindenberger attended the Brandeis School of Law as a non-traditional student to hone his journalism skills and further his investigative expertise. A native of Louisville, he worked for years at the Courier-Journal before he decided to pursue a law degree and graduated from Brandeis School of Law in 2006 as a part-time evening student. Since graduation, he stayed in touch with several law faculty about constitutional law and other legal issues. Dean Melanie B. Jacobs corresponded with Lindenberger after his Pulitzer Prize announcement and commented, “Michael was a truly exceptional graduate who embodied the best qualities of Justice Brandeis’s philosophy that public service is not limited to those practicing law.”
The 2022 Brandeis Brief alumni publication features Lindenberger for his extraordinary work in the field of journalism that won him a Pulitzer Prize.
]]>At the annual meeting of the Kentucky Justice Association, H. Philip Grossman received the Peter Perlman Outstanding Trial Lawyer Award. The Kentucky Justice Association gives this prestigious award to one who “demonstrates exceptional talent as a trial practitioner, fights for the rights of consumers -even when cases and causes may be unpopular – shares his or her legal talents with young lawyers and other members of the bar and gives back to the legal profession by working with others to protect America’s constitutional right to trial by jury.”
Grossman is a partner in the Louisville law firm of Grossman Green PLLC, where the firm concentrates in the representation of injury victims including those who have suffered catastrophic injury and wrongful death. He is a past president of both the Kentucky Justice Association and the Louisville Bar Association. He is a founding member of the Louis D. Brandeis Inn of Court. He earned his law degree from the Brandeis School of Law ('80) and his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
Grossman is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubble, signifying professional excellence. He has been selected for inclusion in U.S. News Best Lawyers. And in 2023 was named the Louisville Best Lawyer of the year for Plaintiff Personal Injury Litigation.
In 2003 Phil received a Louis D. Brandeis School of Law Distinguished Alumni Award.
]]>Justin Brown and B.J. Hardy were both elected as Judge on November 8th. They are graduating classmates from the class of 2014.
Brown was elected as the 13th Floyd County Circuit Court Judge in New Albany, Indiana.
Hardy was elected as the District Judge in Division 1 position, representing Pulaski and Rockcastle Counties in Kentucky.
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Congratulations to our graduates and community supporters who were recognized at the 2022 Louisville Bar Association Member Appreciation & Awards Luncheon.
Margaret Keane
Lee Sitlinger
Ellie Kerstetter (posthumously)
Macauley Campbell
Natalie Johnson
Jim Wagoner
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William D. Razor ('21) joined Sturgill, Turner, Barker & Moloney, PLLC in the Government and Municipal Law practice group. He brings a comprehensive legal background including insurance defense, healthcare law, and legal research work, with experience at a national civil defense firm in Louisville.
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